TMS/CIR-56/17-18 Date: 22nd September 2017
Dear Parents, Greetings from The Millennium School, Indore!!
In the spate of recent disturbing incidents, we understand and share your concerns over safety and security of children in our schools. I want to share with you the steps we have been taking to ensure that our children are safe in school and we have adequate safety and security systems and processes in place, that go over and beyond the minimum government norms.
I personally believe that the school is an extension of home for a child. Each and every student should feel safe and secure, happily engaged and comfortable in the school he or she attends. I assure you that in TMS safety and security of the child is our priority and will not be compromised at any cost. Though we have a very well defined system the disturbing events of the past week have forced me to introspect on all the processes which we have implemented so far and I honestly feel that we need to add some more precautionary measures to the existing SOP’s.
We have initiated the following steps to ensure the safety of our children as per MHRD, CBSE by laws, Education department and our own SOP and IMCR guidelines.
1. Infrastructure:
Our school is designed for child safety. The building is constructed in a way that all safety parameters are addressed. An adequate number of responsible staff members including the Principal/Administrative Officer/ Campus Supervisor are present before the arrival of students in the morning and the entire administration team including the Principal/ member of admin team is present till the buses come back after dropping the students safely.
2. Health and Hygiene:
The school maintains a high standard in having a healthy and hygienic environment. Drinking water is RO purified with servicing done as per norms. Water testing is done every 6 Months to ensure the purity of water. The school cafeteria is supervised by the food committee and maintains high standard in all aspects and is FSSAI certified. The washrooms are kept clean following an hourly supervision schedule.
3. Discipline:
We maintain a high standard of discipline system in our day to day routine. Floor wardens and discipline in-charges are deployed on each floor to make sure that no untoward incident occurs. Teacher on Duty (TOD) on every floor is vigilant and has to give a detailed report to the principal after dispersal. This report covers all major areas.
4. HR:
While appointing the staff, the school takes utmost care in their track record pertaining to their professional as well as personal background.
All appointments are done through a well defined process as per CBSE norms. The teaching and non-teaching staff members have to have mandatory character certificate and also recommendations from at least two reliable sources. We have a well defined code of conduct for our teachers; which includes zero tolerance to physical/ verbal abuse and safe contact with students. We conduct various workshops for teachers to train and sensitize them towards child safety; we also conduct sessions and circle time activities with children for their awareness of the same. The good and bad touch video is shared twice a year.
Police verification of support staff is mandatory, and is a part of the recruitment process. We also have a stringent code of conduct and we ensure that all staff abides by it. Existing staff and new joiners have regular induction and training about safety measures and on how to maintain a safe connect with students in the class. The school keeps conducting regular sessions on sensitizing staff about no touch policy. All the teaching and non teaching / support staff are trained from time to time. All repair and maintenance work is done only after school hours.
5. SOP (Standard Operating Procedures):
The school has an Audit Committee from the HO and we have an SOP named IMCR (Incident management and Controlling of Risks). We propose that we constitute a parent Staff Audit Committee that comprises of 3 parents and 3 staff members to jointly conduct school safety audits once a month.
We have the following committees in place to ensure the complete protection of children’s rights for the following:
· Sexual Harassment
· Anti Bullying
· Child Welfare
· Disaster Management.
The school also has an active POCSO (Protection of Children against Sexual Offences) committee. The IMCR process involves periodic physical check of all school facilities from a safety and security perspective and recording of all unusual incidents. The administrative Officer and the School In charges conduct a weekly review of the IMCR, and plan corrective and preventive action. A monthly IMCR review is conducted by the Director.
An external audit team appointed by the School Management committee also conducts an annual audit and highlights all vulnerabilities in the system to the management.
6. Safety and Security Measure:
We ensure security of our premises by the following processes:
Ø CCTV cameras have been installed in all important areas of the school. More would be added.
Ø All staff movement in and out of school is recorded.
Ø All visitor movements are tallied every day through visitor passes.
Ø All exit entry gates are manned.
Ø Students are allowed to leave only with escorts after conversation with parents.
Ø The transport staff does not have any access inside the school building. Students are escorted to the buses by the teachers.
Ø No vendors are allowed near the school premises.
Ø Separate washrooms/drinking water facility is provided to all drivers and helpers, hence barring their entry in to school premises.
Ø No student and staff are allowed inside the premises without a valid ID.
To monitor the movement there are CCTV cameras are put at strategic locations.
At The Millennium School, we conduct safety drills for speedy evacuation drills every quarter. These drills are recorded and documented. Various Workshops are conducted from time to time by the school regarding the same. All the students, teachers and the support staff are integral part of these drills and workshops.
We have a well defined dispersal process to ensure the security and safety of the children. We ensure that children are led to their bus by the teacher and maid in charge of the route, we also maintain a bus attendance record and the buses are not allowed to leave the school premise without a female accompaniment. We also ensure that during the daytime a female attendant in front of girl’s washroom and a male attendant for boy’s washroom are always present.
A vigilant track of students even between class periods is kept by teachers in every class; having a system of out-pass for the children who step out of the class for any requirement; daily reports by TOD (Teacher On Duty); nominating teachers on house duties; appointing wardens/marshals to take regular rounds on each floor. We also have a staff room on each floor to ensure that teachers are available on each floor.
The school on its part undertakes full responsibility of the safety of every student and we request our parents also to play a pivotal role in training their kids and teaching them about the various life skills in dealing the various untoward situations that they may have to face. We also request you to proactively highlight any concerns and bring them to our attention for satisfactory and speedy resolution.
7. Transport:
Since we have internal as well as external transport system the SOP remains the same to run a quality transport system.
All school buses have one escorting teacher/female guard/maid, apart from the driver and helper to ensure the safety of all the students travelling in the school transport. Children up to Class II are dropped to the respective classrooms by the bus in-charge/monitor.
Dispersal is done in a very systematic way with different gates for walkers and buses.
All school have Excursions and school outings are carried out under strict supervision with laid down policies and processes that caters to the safety and security of the child. All buses have cameras installed.
8. Internal Audit Committee:
The parents are free to visit with prior appointment to check on the security after 3:00pm.
Regards
Principal